I bought an HTC 8S back in February and the screen cracked on the 20th. I wanted a new phone because I know that if I dropped it again, the screen would become unusable. I couldn't resist the Nexus 5. I paid $399 + tax & S/H for the black 32GB model and I couldn't be happier. Coming from a 4GB device, it's nice to not worry about installing too many apps.

Old:

New:

The first thing I noticed was the display. At ~445 pixels per inch, individual pixels are damn-near impossible to see. The colours are great and the viewing angles are superb. Also, Android 4.4 is amazing. Windows Phone 8 has its strengths but at this point, Android is superior. I love WP8 and I want it to be the #3 smartphone OS but Microsoft has to improve a lot of things before it comes popular enough for companies to make apps for it.

Anyway, got any app suggestions? I've installed a bunch so far but I'm curious about the lesser-known ones.

For me, a few must-haves on my Android based devices, not really lesser known or anything but -- Firefox beta (so it syncs with my Firefox desktops, plus ABP), Swype and Hacker's Keyboard (depends on the app which keyboard I want), Tasker, FBReader, ES File Manager and Task Manager, ConnectBot (this gets Hacker's Keyboard), and OneNote. There's others I use but those are pretty common among all of mine. My Android usage is pretty lightweight.. calls, occasionally reading, etc, most of my mobile work is done on a Windows based tablet, my Androids are more of "lightweight consumption" aside from the phone.

For me, a few must-haves on my Android based devices, not really lesser known or anything but -- Firefox beta (so it syncs with my Firefox desktops, plus ABP), Swype and Hacker's Keyboard (depends on the app which keyboard I want), Tasker, FBReader, ES File Manager and Task Manager, ConnectBot (this gets Hacker's Keyboard), and OneNote. There's others but those are pretty common among all of mine.

ES File Manager and OneNote are two apps I wanted to get before my Nexus 5 arrived. Thanks for the suggestions! I'll check out those apps.

ES File Manager and OneNote are two apps I wanted to get before my Nexus 5 arrived. Thanks for the suggestions! I'll check out those apps.

The file manager is super handy, move stuff around between the device, my home network, Dropbox/SkyDrive, etc. Don't have a single Droid based device that doesn't have it. OneNote works very well too, I only read documents with it, editing is done via the desktop version and sync'd through Skydrive.

Couple more -- PushOver, receives notifications from a few sources here on my network, used in conjunction with PushAlot for my WP. Trello, works with the site, sort of like virtual post-its. Out of Milk is a nice list that can sync with multiple devices. PCMonitor, interfaces with a few Windows based servers here so I can babysit them. The uTorrent front-end, just because I like to keep an eye on my Linux torrent downloads. Using Nova Launcher at the moment, rather like its flexibility.

Never had a craving to root my phone however, works fine, reasonably up to date, backs up to the cloud, all that stuff -- my tablets I've done since I had to go with custom firmware anyway since they don't get Android 4.x. TWRP works nicely there yea, handy for the experimenter.

First, I would at least root your phone and install a custom recovery like CWM or TWRP. Then a few apps I always install are....

Titanium Backup
ES File Explorer
Adaway
Autostarts
Lightflow

Just a few recommendations. I have more apps installed.

Thanks! I'm going to keep it stock for now. I plan on rooting it after a couple of years or whenever Google stops releasing updates for it.

The file manager is super handy, move stuff around between the device, my home network, Dropbox/SkyDrive, etc. Don't have a single Droid based device that doesn't have it. OneNote works very well too, I only read documents with it, editing is done via the desktop version and sync'd through Skydrive.

Couple more -- PushOver, receives notifications from a few sources here on my network, used in conjunction with PushAlot for my WP. Trello, works with the site, sort of like virtual post-its. Out of Milk is a nice list that can sync with multiple devices. PCMonitor, interfaces with a few Windows based servers here so I can babysit them. The uTorrent front-end, just because I like to keep an eye on my Linux torrent downloads. Using Nova Launcher at the moment, rather like its flexibility.

Never had a craving to root my phone however, works fine, reasonably up to date, backs up to the cloud, all that stuff -- my tablets I've done since I had to go with custom firmware anyway since they don't get Android 4.x. TWRP works nicely there yea, handy for the experimenter.

Yeah. My best friend suggested it too. I have an ASUS wireless router with a USB port for external storage so I can't wait to use it with that. Nova Launcher is another app I wanted to get. Again, thanks for the suggestions.

Nice choice in phone!

Office/Productivity apps:

- Adobe Reader

- Office Mobile (only if you have a 365 subscription)

- Officesuite Pro 7 - paid alternative to Office

- Quickoffice (free alternative to Office, from Google)

- Google Drive & Keep

- Microsoft RD Client - Remote desktop client from Microsoft

- JuiceSSH - SSH client

Launchers (not necessary, but if you want to customize):

- Nova

- Apex

Keyboards:

- Swiftkey

News readers:

- Flipboard

- Google Play Newsstand

Other apps:

- Google authenticator - awesome app for two factor authentication code generation. You can use it for more than Google services (Microsoft, Dropbox, etc.)

- Dropbox/Skydrive - your cloud service of choice

- Engadget

- HD Widgets - highly customizable weather widgets

- Xbox Music (if you have a subscription)

- Google Play Music - cloud based music service

- Pandora

- Astro file manager/ES File explorer

Thanks. You've made quite a list there. I'll be sure to check out each app.

I pretty much just use the apps that I use on all devices. Flipboard, Kindle, Twitter haha. I need to figure out what is killing my battery though, I will have a full charge and leave it on my desk without using it for a few hours and come back and the battery is over half way gone. It didn't do that when I first got it.

Can always root and that is it so you can take advantage of the apps. SHould get OTA's as long as you dont apply a custom recovery.

I can, but wouldn't that void my warranty?

I pretty much just use the apps that I use on all devices. Flipboard, Kindle, Twitter haha. I need to figure out what is killing my battery though, I will have a full charge and leave it on my desk without using it for a few hours and come back and the battery is over half way gone. It didn't do that when I first got it.

You should be able to see which apps use the most battery life. Over half of it gone while idle means something is very wrong.

Anyway, does anyone know how to sync Facebook profile pictures with contacts? In Windows Phone 8, you can link phone contacts with Facebook friends which changes their contact picture.

You'll need something like haxsync to get it to work. It's a Facebook "issue" even though it used to work on Android before.

Suffice to say, I hate using Facebook images because people put their kids or something and i'm like WTF, who's calling! LOL. It's not glancable anymore and know right away (unless you have a specific ringtone that is). As soon as I get used to 1 image it gets changed to something else and I gotta get accustomed again.

I wouldn't root if you don't feel you need it. I'm a pretty advanced Android user and I develop apps for it and never felt the need to root for over two years now. It's not worth the potential risks, update issues, instability, ...

You'll notice the best and most valuable Android apps are the ones from Google. I'm an almost daily user of Google Maps, Hangouts, Play Music (All Access subscription, ...). I only much prefer Dropbox over Google Drive.

With Dropbox you can get full-res automatic uploads of all your pictures and they hardly take space. The more you use Dropbox automatic uploads the more free space you gain in your Dropbox.

Congrats but I just recently switched from Android to Windows Phone and I love it. I got the Nokia Lumia 1520, it is a beast of a phone!

Same here, I had the nexus 5, and the 4 and the original as well, had a few iphones too, got the Lumia 520 last week and I'm not looking back and plan to have a 1520 by the end of next week.

The quality and usability is just so much better than anything I've used before, no more rooting, no more jailbreaking, just turn it on and go, does everything I need it to do without any trouble, probably the only thing I miss is seeing the constant signal/wifi/battery indicator, I can swipe down for it at any time but it's the only thing I miss, also wish there was a good google voice app but the tradeoff is worth it.